Referring to the declared intention of General Banks to order an election of delegates to a constitutional convention, and by a subsequent order fix the basis of representation, the number of delegates and the details of the election, they said: “This will put the whole matter under military control, and the experience of the last election shows that only such a convention can be had as the overshadowing influence of the military authority will permit. Under an election thus ordered, and a constitution thus established, a republican form of government cannot be formed. It is simply a fraud to call it the reëstablishment of a State government. In these circumstances, the only course left to the truly loyal citizens of Louisiana is, to protest against the recognition of this pretended Government, and to appeal to the calm judgment of the nation to procure such action from Congress as will forbid military commanders to usurp the powers which belong to Congress alone, or to the loyal people of Louisiana.”[[101]]
But neither the protest nor the criticism of Free State men availed to arrest the march of events, and in the presence of a vast multitude Michael Hahn, who had received a majority of all the votes cast, was inaugurated Governor amidst great enthusiasm on March 4. To the oath prescribed in the amnesty and reconstruction proclamation of December 8, 1863, given above, was added the following:
And I do further solemnly swear, that I am qualified according to the constitution of the State to hold the office to which I have been elected, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as Governor of the State of Louisiana, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution and Laws of the United States, and in support of and according to the constitution and laws of this State, so far as they are consistent with the necessary military occupation of the State by the troops of the United States for the suppression of the rebellion, and the full restoration of the authority of the United States.[[102]]
This language clearly indicates the legal theory upon which General Banks was proceeding, and citizens understood that Mr. Hahn represented a popular power entirely subordinate to the armed occupation of the State.
On March 13, 1864, the President wrote the following private letter to Governor Hahn:
I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free-state governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a convention, which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest for your private consideration whether some of the colored people may not be let in—as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.[[103]]
Speaking of this personal note Mr. Blaine says: “It was perhaps the earliest proposition from any authentic source to endow the negro with the right of suffrage, and was an indirect but most effective answer to those who subsequently attempted to use Mr. Lincoln’s name in support of policies which his intimate friends instinctively knew would be abhorrent to his unerring sense of justice.”[[104]]
At the suggestion of General Banks, the President two days later invested Mr. Hahn until further order “with the powers exercised hitherto by the military governor of Louisiana.”[[105]]
From the sentiments of the Free State party it requires little insight into human affairs to foretell that in some manner they would soon be found in opposition. Their candidate, Mr. B. F. Flanders, who received fewer votes than either of his competitors, was a prominent official in the Treasury Department, and from this vantage ground, without, so far as appears, rebuke from Secretary Chase, began to stir up in Congress a feeling of hostility to the new government in Louisiana. Precisely why Mr. Lincoln decided to take into his own hands the entire subject of reconstruction may be collected without difficulty from what has already been said; but that this determination was confirmed by his knowledge of an alliance between the Free State leaders and the “Radicals” in Congress there can be little doubt.
The Department Commander in a general order gave notice on March 11 that an election would be held on the 28th of that month for the choice of delegates to a State convention to meet in New Orleans “for the revision and amendment of the constitution of Louisiana.”[[106]] Five days later, March 16, Governor Hahn, in a proclamation to the sheriffs and other officers concerned, authorized the election and commanded them to give due notice thereof to the qualified voters of the State and to make prompt returns to the Secretary of State in New Orleans.[[107]]